Giroux gives Mason a hand as Flyers rally to stun Columbus

Flyers players celebrate with Claude Giroux after he scored a goal in the third period — one of two he scored in the frame that gave the Flyers’ a stunning comeback win over the Blue Jackets on Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA — Flyers goalie Steve Mason was staring at the same fate that his backup goalie, Ray Emery, suffered through the week before in Chicago — having one of his worst games of the season happen against his old team.

Mason wasn’t awful against his old Blue Jackets buddies Thursday night, but he was worse than he’d been lately, and lately he hasn’t been nearly as good as he was earlier in the season. But before he was forced to contemplate his slipping performances late in what was shaping up to be one of the worst Flyers losses of the season, Claude Giroux suddenly fashioned a highlight-worthy reprieve for everyone to remember.

Giroux’s two goals in the closing minutes not only topped an incredible five-goal third period for the Flyers, they sealed a 5-4 win over Columbus that should be worth way more than the two points it registered on the Metropolitan Division standings scoreboard.

From an aesthetic point of view, Giroux’s game-winning goal with 1:38 left to play was as beautiful as perhaps any he has scored. He was being tackled from behind by Blue Jackets defender David Savard, yet somehow was able to backhand a bullet as he was falling down that shot over the left shoulder of goalie Curtis McElhinney and snuck under the crossbar to ignite a Wells Fargo Center roar.

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“I was just trying to get it on net,” said Giroux, who piled up two goals and two assists in that third period alone. “It was at the end of the shift and I was a little tired, so I was just trying to get it on net.”

This came just more than two minutes after Giroux had hurled himself netward to beat McElhinney to a rebound of a Michael Raffl shot that had hit the post and died near the crease. Giroux got there first for a game-tying goal. He was also the first to respond when Mason humbly thanked the team for the comeback after the game.

“It was a tough game overall, there wasn’t a whole lot of flow (in) my game,” said Mason, who had watched Emery look similarly off his game eight nights earlier amid a 7-2 loss to the Blackhawks. “A couple of goals go by and you start maybe holding your stick a little tighter. But that third period, the guys really came through and showed the offensive force this team has.

“After the game was over and we got back in here ... it was just a good feeling that I knew I wasn’t the main reason that we won. So I went around the room and told the boys I appreciated everything they did for me tonight. (Giroux) in particular said, ‘You don’t have to be the one that’s winning us games every single night. We’re going to come through for you.’

“They picked one heck of a night doing it for me.”

Mason, red hot over the season’s first two months while most of his teammates sagged early, has allowed four goals or more in four of his last six starts. Facing Columbus might have been a reminder of the time when his game went awry for a long time, a period he was able to put behind him after his trade last spring to the Flyers. But he’s older and more experienced than the kid who enjoyed fast success and despairing lows with a bad Blue Jackets team.

Perhaps this memorable save by Giroux and Co. can help him warm up again.

The Flyers were outshooting Columbus 14-2 and were on the power play when Jake Voracek was stripped of the puck at the point by Cam Atkinson, who glided into the zone on a 2-on-1 and beat Mason with a quick wrist shot 15:16 into the first period.

The Blue Jackets doubled the lead 4:44 into the second when a goofed-up Flyers line change created another 2-on-1 Columbus break, and Jack Skille responded with a terrific shot for 2-0. The Flyers then got lazy in the period’s final seconds, and Nick Foligno was allowed to sneak in and score with just 7.5 seconds showing on the clock.

Asked later if that second intermission was the most frustrated he’d been since taking over as head coach, Craig Berube said, “Yeah, because I can’t stand getting outworked. Can’t stand it.”

It tolled defeat, since the Blue Jackets were 9-0-1 when leading going into the third period this season ... and 36-0-1 with a lead after two dating back to when Mason was with them. But the Flyers, fueled by loud coachspeak or not, came out seeking to change things.

Voracek gained control of the puck behind the Columbus net, hurried out into the circle and threw a turnaround wrist shot past McElhinney 4:20 into the third. And 62 seconds later, Braydon Coburn threw a shot that perhaps hit Blue Jackets center Mark Letestu en route to bouncing past McElhinney to cut the gap to 3-2.

But all seemed lost for Mason and the Flyers when Scott Hartnell lost control of a puck behind his own net. It went quickly to Blake Comeau, who beat the not-so-ready Mason at 8:35. That’s about when he might have started contemplating his slump.

Instead, his team won a game for him.

It began with a Wayne Simmonds shot rebounded in by Erik Gustafsson to cut the lead to 4-3 with 4:39 left to play. Then Giroux scored two picture-perfect goals in the next three minutes that could rewrite the course of the season.

His game-winning goal was the 100th of his career. It pushed the Flyers (16-15-4) above the .500 mark for the first time this season. It made Steve Mason happy.

“So many times to start the year he bailed us out,” Giroux said. “For us to come back and get that win for him, he was really happy after the game. To have a little help from us once in a while is kind of good.”

About the Author

Rob Parent is the Daily Times sports editor. He also covers the Flyers as well as writing an occasional column. Reach the author at rparent@delcotimes.com
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